


Asylum

by DrakePendragon



Category: Doctor Who, Marvel (Comics), X-23 (Comic)
Genre: Captain Universe cameo, F/F, F/M, Future Foundation, Gen, Introspective Laura Kinney, Season 7 Episode 1 "Asylum of the Daleks"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 10:08:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14054619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrakePendragon/pseuds/DrakePendragon
Summary: Laura Kinney has been acquired! The Daleks have rounded up the Doctor's companions. Only... Laura has no idea who the Doctor is. Now she has to deal with allies she's never met and enemies she's never imagined.





	1. Out of the Frying Pan

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this back when season 7 was still airing and we still had Amy and Rory around. Good times.
> 
> It was meant to be more than just this episode, but like another of my stories, I kinda burnt out. So, I'm releasing this part as one story for now. Maybe I'll continue later.

In Manhattan, an increasingly familiar sight played out. There was a crisis and two people were first on the scene to help out. First was the city’s own favorite, the Amazing Spider-Man, now swinging around in a white and black suit bearing the symbol of the Future Foundation on his chest. He was always eager and willing to help out when people needed it and even throw in a good quip or a joke to lighten the mood.

The other was his opposite and the perfect foil to his lighthearted antics. Talon, a young woman with two metal blades that came out of each hand and one out of each foot, was cold and clinical but always helpful. She’d walk onto the scene shortly behind Spider-Man, also clad in the white and black of the Future Foundation, and use her analytical mind to make sure everyone got out okay. Especially the children. Nothing moved Talon more than children in need.

Today’s crisis was a burning high rise at Central Park West. Most of the apartments had already been lost to the inferno, but there were still people in need. Spider-Man and Talon worked tirelessly for hours alongside the brave men and women of the NYFD to evacuate the building. Talon had just reached the top floor and though she would never admit it, she was tired.

Another piece of flaming debris fell from the ceiling and crashed into her arm. She brushed it away without a second thought as the light burns and small cuts disappeared into unblemished skin. A little buzzing against her ear made her stop in annoyance. She lightly brushed her fingers over it.

“Searching a burning building takes time, Spider-Man,” she said before he could speak. She frequently had to admonish him for his impatience, but not many people could match her ability to wait.

“There’s someone in the window on the top floor. Fourth from the right. I can’t web sling up there to get him,” he replied. If he couldn’t get up there it must mean that the whole area was engulfed in flames.

Talon inhaled deeply, pushing aside all the smells associated with things burning and focused on finding organic matter, specifically human. A scent hit her highly acute nose and made her recoil. It smelt of decomposition, metal, and aliens. It was certainly not alive.

“Spider-Man, this is nothing living up here. Certainly nothing we would want civilians encountering,” she reported.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It smells of death and aliens. I’m going to check it out,” she replied.

“Be careful. I’ll meet you on the roof,” he said.

Talon eased her way through the burnt out hallway, careful not to step on anything she thought might fall through. The last door on her left was open. She wasn’t quite sure why that unnerved her as much as it did. She took another deep breath and was hit by the same fetid cocktail.

“Hello?” she called out, stepping into the burning apartment. She got nothing in response, just the roar of the fire. The floor fell away behind her, cutting her off from the hall. She had a feeling that Spider-Man’s trademarked Spidey-Sense would be going off like crazy right about now.

“Something wrong, X?” he asked over the com channel.

“Do not call me that while we are working,” she responded reflexively.

“Sheesh, sorry, Talon,” he replied, putting a mocking emphasis on her codename.

“You understand the importance of anonymity better than anyone, Spider-Man,” she retorted.

“Fair enough. You got me. You find that dead alien thing?” he asked.

Talon stepped over some more debris and through a destroyed wall. It wasn’t destroyed by the fire because there was a distinct smell of ozone in the air. Something blasted through it. She found the roof access stairwell and paused. The scent led straight up there.

“Are you on the roof, yet?” she demanded.

“No, jeez. The building’s about to collapse so that makes me a little low on anchor points,” he replied.

“Stay off the roof. Whatever this thing is, it is up there and it is armed with some kind of energy weapon,” she explained.

“And you’re going to, what, go chat with it?” he asked incredulously.

“You said it yourself, the building is about to come down. I need to know at least what it is first,” she replied.

“Is that even safe?” he asked.

“Safe never really concerned me. You know that,” she answered. One hand reached up and clicked off the earpiece while the other tightened into a fist. Two blades split the skin between her knuckles and slid out of her hand. They were long, slightly curved, and made of the toughest metal known to the universe: adamantium. Talon moved swiftly up the stairs to the roof of the building. A few local news helicopters circled the burning building for their stories. A thick white line caught the landing rail of a helicopter Spider-Man used it to pull himself up. He could never resist trying to be the hero.

The building was quickly growing unsteady under her feet. She could hear the fire trucks and fire fighters moving away from it before it came down. But standing in the middle of the roof, apparently unaffected by everything, was a portly middle aged man. There was nothing of note about him, just an average human with male pattern baldness. Nothing strange except the smell of death, alien, and ozone was coming from him. The man twitched and shook. His head dropped forward against his chest. She could hear bones cracking and shifting in unnatural ways. A metal stalk with a big blue eye pushed out of his forehead.

“Talon! Get out of there!” Spider-Man yelled from the helicopter. His Spidey-Sense was screaming at him at this point. She gave no sign that she acknowledged him, so he leapt from the helicopter to the burning roof. The man raised his hand and bright white light shot out and engulfed her. It died away and the man crumpled to the roof like a corpse. She was nowhere to be seen.

This was the last straw for the high rise and it finally started to come down. Spider-Man shot a webline onto the nearest helicopter and pulled himself to safety. The dust and ash kicked up into the air, forcing the helicopters to flee the area. Spider-Man didn’t even notice. His mind was focused on what just happened. He could swear he heard the most terrifying sounding voice say something just as the blast of light took Talon.

“Laura Kinney has been acquired!”


	2. Into the Fire

Laura Kinney, the alter ego of the hero Talon, sat up sharply in confusion. She was on a pristine white floor in a circle room with one other person. She smelt human to her and had the same ozone residue on their clothes that she did. The air was metallic and recycled and she could feel a slight pressure forcing it together which said she was on a spaceship. That same alien smell was prevalent in the recycled air and much, much stronger. Effectively, she had been abducted.

“Who’re you?” the woman asked with a strong Scottish brogue. Laura didn’t respond. She wasn’t the type to respond. Truthfully, she never felt she knew how to respond. She wasn’t a social creature at all. It had taken a lot just of her to become friends with Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man. Unknown women that had been kidnapped alongside her was definitely out. She simply didn’t know if she could afford to form a bond with her in case she needed to sacrifice her in her escape.

“D’you even understand English?” the woman asked.

The urge to block her out was growing stronger and stronger. The woman put out an aura that while prickly, had a warmth to it and a caring quality to it. A mother. It struck an uncomfortable chord in Laura and made her redouble her isolation efforts. She pushed herself to her feet and inspected the lone window in their cell. Hundreds of circular ships flew around, seemingly in orbit around the ship they were on.

“Fine, whether you can understand me or not, I’m gonna start talking because the silence is driving me mad. They’re called the Daleks. Most evil race of… of things… I’ve ever encountered. They believe in that whole genetic paradigm nonsense and think that justifies them killing just about everything in the sight that isn’t them. Kinda like those Purifier jackasses back on Earth,” she explained. Laura gave her a brief glance to show that she acknowledged what she said.

“You know something about, them, don’t you? Purifiers?” she asked. Laura didn’t respond, just looked back out the window. She was trying to figure out the patterns dictating how the ships were moving.

“I figured ‘cause you’ve got those sharp looking claw-things coming out of your hand,” she pointed out. Laura reflexively drew them back into her body and the tiny cuts that were caused by them healed up.

“I don’t mind, really! I happen to enjoy the company of mutants. I find you much better to talk to than most normal people. You run around space and time as much as I do and you start to find yourself alienated around regular folk,” she said.

Laura turned around and simply raised an expectant eyebrow, wondering if this woman was going to talk until she passed out.

“My name’s Amy Pond, what’s yours?” she asked. Laura’s immediate reaction was to give her the Talon alias, but she wasn’t Talon at the moment. She was her civilian self, dressed in the remains of her Future Foundation suit.

“T-talon,” Laura replied.

“Well, that’s an alias if I’ve ever heard one,” Amy snorted. Laura shrugged and turned away from Amy’s judging stare. It was like the redhead was trying to understand everything about her in an instant and it made her very uncomfortable.

“So, how do you know the Doctor?” Amy asked, leaning against the wall. She was trying to appear at ease but her posture was tight and her eyes darted back and forth constantly, clearly waiting for something bad to happen.

The title floated through Laura mind accompanied by hundreds of images of Doctors. Doctor Sutter, Doctor Rice, Doctor McCoy, Doctor Richards… the list was almost endless for her. Finally she glanced back at Amy in confusion. “Doctor who?” she asked.

Amy laughed and shook her head. “I know, right? I’m his mother-in-law and I don’t even know his name,” she said dryly. Laura just kept staring at her blankly. “You really don’t know him, do you?”

Another great flash of light heralded the appearance of another body in the middle of the room. Human and same ozone from whatever teleportation device was used. His heartbeat was stable and he was breathing. In short, Laura did nothing to approach him.

Amy however, flew towards him and almost embraced him before catching herself. She backed away to the other end of the room and just scowled instead. If there was a more obvious display of a complicated relationship, Laura certainly hadn’t seen one.

“Rory Williams. My hus… my ex-husband,” Amy explained almost unnecessarily. If she was expecting Laura to respond at all, she would be disappointed. Domestic affairs were more alien to her than being abducted by actual aliens. She couldn’t remember the last time she lingered more than three seconds in the room when Reed and Sue started arguing.

Rory gasped audibly and sat up sharply. His vitals, though slightly panicked, were still in an acceptable range so Laura paid him little mind. He tried to ignore his estranged wife and instead stared warily at the teenaged woman he didn’t know. Her apathy was enough for him to start ignoring her too.

“Where are we?” he asked Amy. She didn’t verbally respond, not trusting her voice to sound anything except cruel, and instead gestured to the window. He scrambled to his feet and looked out at the ships. “So… how much trouble are we in?”

The wall next to Laura separated and slid upward. She jerked back and extended her claws on each hand and her feet. She could smell three beings coming towards the room. Both alien but only one of them was familiar. An eyestalk like she had seen on the man came forward but attached to what looked like a bronze domed cylinder rolled out. It had a few lights on its head and two appendages coming out from the middle. One was a weapon like she had seen before and the other looked like a suction cup. It turned its eyestalk on top her.

“You will… rescind your bladed… weapons,” it ordered in a high pitched, mechanical, grating voice.

A man walked in behind it, clearly ill at ease. He ran a hand through his foppish brown hair and adjusted the bowtie on his suit. He looked at Laura sadly, like a parent would upon seeing his child in a terrible situation. “Laura Kinney. I suggest you follow the salt-shaker’s orders,” he said gently. Amy breathed the word ‘Doctor’ in relief. Another one of those ‘salt-shaker’ aliens rolled in behind him, clearly designating him another prisoner. She cocked her head to the side and focused her hearing on him, specifically. She was clearly hearing two heartbeats coming from his chest.

With an uncomfortable scraping sound the six blades retracted into her body. He smiled at her reassuringly and turned back to Rory. “How much trouble, Mr. Pond? Out of ten…? Eleven…” he replied. Even Laura got the obvious Spinal Tap joke. It spoke volumes for how naturalized he was to their planet. The hatch above their head hissed and broke into segments before retreating out of the way.

“Tell me, Laura, what do your senses tell you? Hearing, olfactory information?” the man, the Doctor, whispered to her.

“Large chamber, resonance. Hundreds of thousands of them. Waiting,” she replied. The Doctor patted her shoulder in thanks and took a step away from her. The platform they stood upon shook and rose up from the ground, heading straight up to the large hole in the ceiling. Amy and Rory looked very concerned but Laura forced an impassive look onto her face. The platform came to a stop in a large, open room filled with a half a million Daleks easily, just as Laura had described to him.

“Where are we? Spaceship, right?” Amy asked the Doctor. Rory hadn’t stopped turning in place.

“Not just any spaceship…” the Doctor replied. He swallowed nervously and turned back to Amy. “The Parliament of the Daleks.”

Laura looked calmly up at the dais where a white shelled Dalek stood next to a tank. She recognized the kind of tank from years as a lab experiment. It was a form of immersion therapy or a way to keep someone or something unconscious. Either way, the subject was nonfunctional. So, imagine her surprise with the mutated blob in the tank opened it one solid, jaundiced eye and held eye contact with her. She stood absolutely still and just analyzed what she saw.

“What do we do?” Amy whispered to the Doctor.

“Make them remember you,” he told both her and Laura. This confused her, she had never encountered the Dalek before. The Doctor turned around and walked past Laura. “You got me! What are you waiting for? At long last, it’s Christmas! Here I am!” he declared, holding his arms out like he was sacrificing himself. None of the Daleks moved forward. Only a few even twitched.

“Save… us… You will… save us…” said that same horrendous voice coming from the tank. The four of them paused and looked amongst themselves. The Doctor’s arms dropped abruptly and turned back around to face the tank.

“I’ll what?” he asked in confusion.

“You… will… save the Daleks,” it instructed.

“SAVE THE DALEKS!”

Everybody whirled around at the sound of a half million Daleks chanting.

“SAVE THE DALEKS!”

“Well,” the Doctor said with a smile. He put his arm around Laura’s shoulder and guided her back to the Ponds. “This is new…”

“Doctor?” Amy asked as if she were scolding a small child to open up his hand.

“Laura, stay with the Ponds no matter what. If you get separated, make sure you get back to them,” he instructed.

“What are you going to do?” Rory asked.

“What he always does,” Amy replied in his stead.

The Doctor whirled about and approached a human woman with unnaturally bright orange hair. She smelt of death, metal, and Dalek. Just like the middle age man on the roof top. She looked at Laura with amused interest and smiled at her but it didn’t reach her eyes. Nothing did. She was clearly as dead as Laura thought she was.

“We are clearly in motion! Where are we going?” he demanded.

“You will see. Feel free to keep pacing if it will calm you,” the woman said.

“I’m standing in the blast radius of a half million Daleks and you expect me to be calm?” he argued.

“Yes,” Laura replied for her. The Doctor walked over to her and peered intently to her eyes.

“I know why you’re so calm, but do you?” he asked.

“There is an apparent task waiting for us at the destination. Killing us beforehand would be illogical,” she explained.

“Is she part Cyberman?” Amy asked.

“No, just familiar with abductions,” the Doctor replied dryly.

“I have not figured out why I am here, however,” Laura pointed out.

“The Daleks abducted my companions as well as me. The problem is they pulled you out of your timeline far too early. This is your first time meeting me, but I know you quite well. Laura Kinney. X-23. Talon. Captain Universe,” the Doctor listed off. His voice was quiet but soothing.

“We will arrive in two minutes,” the puppet informed them. Laura drifted back towards the Ponds. The Doctor started pacing again.

“What is he doing?” Rory finally asked.

“He’s chosen the most defensible area in the room, counted all the Daleks, counted all the exits, factored in our sharp and dangerous new friend, and now he’s calculating the exact distance we’re standing apart and he’s starting to worry,” Amy explained. Rory looked at her in shock while the Doctor glared at her for the assessment.

“Oh! And look at him, frowning now. Something’s wrong with Amy and Rory and who’s going to fix it? And he straightens his bowtie,” Amy finished, scowling at the Doctor in return.

“We have… arrived,” the white Dalek declared. The Doctor checked his watch impatiently. For what, Laura didn’t know. It was an analog watch but she couldn’t hear any ticking from it. The Doctor took a deep breath and steadied himself. She was certainly starting to gather he was a man of many, many eccentricities and borderline obsessions.

“Arrived where?” he asked loudly.

“Doctor…” the tank called out.

“The Prime Minister will speak with you now,” the puppet said gesturing him forward.

“Do you remember who you were before they emptied you out and turned you into their puppet?” the Doctor asked her quietly.

“My memories are only reactivated if they are required to facilitate deep cover or disguise,” the puppet informed him.

“You had a daughter,” he replied.

“I know. I’ve read my file,” the puppet said conspiratorially with a humorless smirk. The Doctor followed her up the ramp to the dais. He walked directly to the Prime Minister.

“Well?” he asked.

“What… do you know… of the Dalek… Asylum…?” it asked.

“According to legend, you have a dumping ground. A planet where you lock up all the Daleks that go wrong. The battle-scarred, the insane, the ones even you can’t control,” the Doctor said with a self-satisfied smirk. Proud that he could take a shot at the Prime Minister’s ego. His demeanor then grew frosty. “Which never made any sense to me.”

“Why not?” the Prime Minister asked, clearly enjoying the repartee.

“Because you’d just kill them!” he retorted.

“It is offensive to us to extinguish… such… divine hatred,” it replied.

The look of disgust on the Doctor’s face was palpable. Laura could smell it coming off him in waves and that scared her more than she would admit. When the Doctor felt rage, she was positive that he could crack a planet in half with it. She wasn’t sure that even she, exposed to the Trigger Scent, could match him. And he kept it so completely locked down within him.

“Offensive?” the Doctor spat out.

“Does it surprise you to know that Daleks have a concept of… beauty?” it asked.

“I thought you’d run out of ways to make me sick. But hello again… you think hatred is beautiful?” he said in a near whisper, unwilling to see if he could control his anger at higher volumes.

“Perhaps that is why… we have never been able… to kill you,” it proposed gleefully.

Laura had a small conversation with the Doctor then with only facial expressions as he walked over to her.

‘They have a point.’

‘Don’t concede the Daleks a point.’

‘I can smell the rage and fury coming off you.’

‘Don’t use your sense of smell to help the Dalek’s taunt me.’

The floor between the three humans opened up to reveal a planet far below. The Doctor approached it with the puppet in tow. The planet was completely covered in snow, about a quarter the size of Earth, and protected by a shimmering energy field.

“The asylum. It occupies the entire planet, right to the core,” the puppet said.

“How many Daleks are down there?” the Doctor asked.

“A count has not been made. Millions, certainly.”

“All still alive?”

“It has to be assumed. The asylum is fully automated. Supervision is not required.”

“Armed?” Amy asked.

“The Daleks are always armed,” the puppet replied scornfully.

“What color?” Rory asked. Amy and the Doctor looked at him scornfully. “Sorry, there weren’t any good questions left.”

“What are the shells made of?” Laura asked.

“Dalekanium,” the puppet replied. Laura shot a quick look to the Doctor and he nodded in affirmation. Her head cocked to the side and she looked down at the planet.

“You’re receiving a signal,” she stated. The puppet looked at the Prime Minister curiously since it couldn’t comprehend the signal itself.

“This signal is being received from the very heart of the asylum…” the puppet stated.

The speakers in the room came to life and Georges Bizet’s Carmen played loudly. Laura knew the opera well from Sue Storm’s looping playlist in the lab.

“What… is… the noise? Explain! Explain!” the white Dalek declared. The Doctor danced about a bit with a twirl and flourish.

“It’s, uh… it’s me,” he replied.

Rory looked at him like he was an idiot. “Sorry, what?” he demanded.

“It’s me… playing the triangle,” he replied, pantomiming the act. Laura was the only one to be actually hear it in the playback. “Okay, I got buried in the mix.”

“Good thing, too,” Laura deadpanned. He glowered at her.

“Carmen, lovely show,” he exclaimed. He whipped out a bronze and white device from his jacket pocket and flicked it forward. A high pitched whirling sound came from it and the green tip lit up. “Someone’s transmitting this. Have you considered tracking back the signal and talking to them?” he asked. He stepped up to a control console and pointed the device at it again. “He asked the Daleks…” he muttered under his breath.

“That’s his sonic screwdriver. He tends to wave it about more than use it,” Amy informed Laura.

“Hello? Hello! Carmen! Hello! Come in, come in. Come in, Carmen,” he said.

“Hello! Yes, yes! Sorry. Do you read me?” a woman’s voice said frantically.

“Who’s that?” Rory asked.

“Carmen,” Laura replied dryly. Amy was just starting to get her sense of humor and cracked a wide smile.

“Yes! Reading you loud and clear. Identify yourself and report your status,” the Doctor instructed.

“Hello… are you real?” ‘Carmen’ asked.

“Are you ready?” Amy whispered into Laura’s ear.

“For what? We do not know anything so far,” Laura replied.

“We know that there are millions of insane Daleks down there,” she pointed out.

“I have a very powerful healing factor,” Laura pointed out in return.

“They have laser weapons with that gunstick thing that flat out kill people with a single hit,” she argued.

“I also have a really high resistance to energy sources,” Laura countered.

“So?” she argued.

“And my claws can cut through them,” Laura added.

“What are you two arguing about?” Rory hissed out.

“Dying at the hands of millions of insane Daleks,” Laura informed him amusedly. She couldn’t help it. Amy had gotten under her skin and through her wall. She liked the sassy Scot.

“This conversation… is irrelevant!” the white Dalek declared, snapping the three humans to attention. It seemed to be pointed at the Doctor, however, and not them. He turned and advanced on the Dalek.

“No, it isn’t! Because a starliner has crashed into your asylum and someone’s got in. And if someone can get in, then everything can get out. A tsunami of insane Daleks. Even you don’t want that!” the Doctor declared.

“The asylum… must… be cleansed!” the white Dalek declared.

“Then why is it still here? You’ve enough firepower on this ship to blast it out of the sky,” he asked in confusion.

“The asylum force field is impenetrable,” the puppet informed him.

“Turn it off.”

“It can only be turned off from within the asylum.”

“A small task force could sneak through a force field. Send in a couple of Daleks!” the Doctor ordered. He brushed past them to get back to the Ponds and Laura. All of the Daleks were unnervingly silent. Laura’s brows came together under the onslaught of a new, fetid, powerful smell. Shame. It was enough that she had to pinch the bridge of her nose to block it out.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together mockingly. “Oh, and that’s good. That’s brilliant. You’re all too scared to go down there. Not one of you will go, so tell me. What do the Daleks do when they’re too scared?” he asked mockingly.

“The Predator of the… Daleks will be… deployed,” the white Dalek replied.

“You don’t have a predator. And even if you did, why would they turn off a force field for you?” the Doctor asked.

“Because… you will have… no other means… of escape…” the Prime Minister explained.

“May I clarify?” the puppet asked, stepping up behind him. “The Predator is a Dalek’s word for you.”

“Me? Me?” the Doctor demanded in disgust, looking around at all the frightened and ashamed Daleks in the room. The puppet gestured and two more puppets came forward, attaching a silver bangle with blue lights onto his wrist.

“You will need these. They will protect you from the nanocloud,” the puppet said.

“The what? The nano what?” the Doctor asked as he was ushered to the hole in the floor above the planet.

“The gravity beam will convey you close to the source of the transmission,” the puppet explained. A bright shaft of shifting white light erupted from the hole in the floor to the ceiling. “You must find a way to deactivate the force field from there.”

“You’re going to fire me at a planet? That’s your plan? I get fired at a planet and expected to fix it?” the Doctor demanded.

“In fairness, that is slightly your MO,” Rory pointed out, trying to drum up enough courage to look into the beam.

“Don’t be fair to the Daleks when they’re firing me at a planet,” he complained. The puppets grabbed the three humans and forced their arms out. “What do you want with them?” he exclaimed. The puppets clipped on the silver and blue bracelets onto their wrists as well.

“It is known that the Doctor requires companions,” the white Dalek stated.

Rory groaned. “Oh… brilliant,” he griped.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get through this, I promise. Don’t be scared,” the Doctor told them.

“Scared? Who’s scared? Geronimo…” Amy said with a devil-may-care smirk. The Doctor laughed triumphantly.

Laura stepped forward first and felt a sharp tug on her ankle and the she hurtled towards the planet below.


	3. The Smell of Metal, Death, and Daleks in the Morning

Laura came back to consciousness with a mouthful of metallic tasting snow. She rose to her knees and then her feet, brushing herself off as she went. The air tasted metallic, too. She stood ankle deep in a snow field as far as the eye could see. To find her footing, so to speak, she took a deep breath and let the scents roll over her. Thousands of new scents came with the new planet but she could pick out Amy and the Doctor’s on the wind. Accompanied by the now very familiar Metal/Death/Dalek combo. She took off across the snow covered hills in pursuit of her… she didn’t know the word to use. The Doctor obviously trusted her implicitly. Amy… she liked Amy. Rory wasn’t that bad either. Maybe once this mess was over and done with she could consider them friends. It certainly complicated the sacrificing them part in her escape plan.

She tracked the scents to a perfectly round hole in the ground, leading straight down for an unknown distance. The scents led away from there but at least she had actually found the trail. A puppet was obviously still with them, perhaps with its old memories intact. That only made it a sleeper agent and a greater threat.

There was a shuttle buried in the snow some ways away from the hole with its hatch wide open. Something not advised on a planet this cold. Laura took another deep breath and knew with certainty that they were inside. The sound of a small, feminine gasp placed Amy about twenty feet to the right of the entrance. The uncoordinated shuffling of shoes told her the Doctor was about thirty feet ahead of her. The sound of bone cracking and a mechanical whirring told her the puppet was right in front of her.

Laura swung into the large escape craft with her boot claw out. Her foot hooked under the back of the puppet’s skull and the blade erupted from between its eyes. She landed on the broken puppet with a sickening crunch. Amy screamed in shock and staggered back against the wall. Laura extended the claws on one of her hands and severed the head from the body.

“Ah… Laura… right on time,” the Doctor said, a little out of breath.

“I could smell the puppet. I did not want you alone with it,” Laura explained. She wiped off her claws on the body and retracted them.

“I’m sorry. Did you just say you could smell… him?” Amy asked incredulously.

“Laura Kinney here possesses senses far beyond the human spectrum. She could out track a bloodhound and out hear a falcon. I guarantee that she could see the bottom of that hole that Rory made on his way down,” the Doctor stated.

“I cannot, in fact. It is far too deep,” Laura interjected.

Amy nudged the shattered head with an eyestalk coming out of it with her toe. A small amount of bile rose up but she calmed herself. “Explain, that’s what you’re good at. How did he get all Daleked?” she asked. He glanced around quickly at the decayed bodies in the room and then at his two companions.

“Because he wasn’t wearing one of these,” he stated, gesturing to the wristband the Daleks put on them. He laughed in amazement. “That’s clever! The nanocloud. Microorganisms that automatically process any organic matter, living or dead, into a Dalek puppet. It would be why the entire planet smells like metal to you, Laura.”

The Doctor chuckled and patted a corpse on the head, failing to notice that Laura extended her blades once again. “Anything that attacks this place, it automatically becomes part of the on-site security,” he said.

Amy stepped forward but Laura prevented her from passing. She was keeping herself between the corpses and the redhead. Laura’s breathing was deep and agitated as if she was waiting for a fight. But perhaps she was, Amy reasoned. If she could really smell things that well, wouldn’t she be able to smell when those things activated?

“Living or dead?” Amy asked again, trying to drop a hint on the Doctor’s head.

“The wristbands protect us. The only way for it to fail is for the cloud not to understand an organism or if it happened to have a robust healing factor…”

“Doctor, shut up. Living or dead?” she asked again, poking him in the sternum.

“Yes, exactly, living or-or-or… dead. Oh dear,” he stammered, turning back to the deceased remainder of the crew. The sound of bones cracking filled the room and they watched as eyestalks extended from the skulls. Laura lashed out with a kick, sheering off the head of the one nearest her.

“Laura, the door!” the Doctor exclaimed. The mutant dove forward in a tight spiral with her claws extended in front of her. A familiar move of her genetic template, Wolverine. The adamantium blades ripped through the aged corpses and they dropped to the floor. She fought with a flurry of kicks and swipes to carve a path for Amy and the Doctor.

“Doctor!” Amy screamed. She hit the ground hard. One of the corpses grabbed her foot and pulled it out from under her. The body was missing most of its torso but that didn’t stop it. It grabbed her by the wrist and tried to pull her under the seats but Laura’s foot came down hard and shattered the skull. She pulled Amy to her feet and pushed her through the door.

The Doctor slammed the door closed behind them and activated the deadlock seal. The lights changed to emergency lighting and filled the room with a sickly orange glow. Amy and the Doctor leaned against the door and laughed breathlessly while Laura scouted out this part of the shuttle.

“Is it bad that I’ve really missed this?” Amy asked, her voice low and husky like a lover in the bedroom. The Doctor gave her an odd and worried look.

“Yes,” he replied.

“It’s good.”

“I know.”

Laura crouched down in front of a pile of debris with a dank wind coming up from it. She brushed all the crates aside and broke the lock with a claw. There was a large shaft with a ladder going down it. She could see some kind of tunnel at the bottom. Artificial with metal plating and lighting. There was an intense Dalek smell coming up but it wasn’t right. It was coupled with something worse. A lab or a hospital. There was the faint stench of disease down there.

“Every day is like this for me,” Laura added idly.

“You wouldn’t trade it for anything, I bet,” Amy stated with a smirk. Laura glanced back at her, a very rare smile gracing her face as well.

“No,” she replied.

“Unauthorized personnel may not enter the cockpit,” ‘Carmen’ said over the PA system.

“Shut up,” the Doctor grumbled. He walked over to an internal security camera and tapped it a few times with his sonic screwdriver.

“What, Mr. Grumpy. Ba-ad combo. No sense of humor and that chin,” she replied.

“Is that her again, Soufflé Girl?” Amy asked.

“Soufflé Girl?” ‘Carmen’ asked indignantly.

“I have been calling you ‘Carmen’,” Laura told her.

“With the implied air quotes?” she asked.

“Of course,” Laura replied.

”Oi! What is wrong with my chin?” the Doctor demanded.

“Careful, dear. You’ll put someone’s eye out,” ‘Carmen’ deadpanned. Amy snorted a laugh, earning a glare from the Doctor. “I’m scanning you. You’re in another of the escape pods from the Alaska, it seems your power’s on.”

“How can you hack into everything? It should be impossible. You’re in a crashed ship!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“Long story. Is there a word for ‘total screaming genius’ that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?” she asked.

“Doctor. You can call me the Doctor,” he stated smugly.

“See what you did there…” she stated.

“Carmen?” Laura suggested.

“Ooh. I like you a lot,” she replied with a rich laugh.

“You’re supposed to take my side,” the Doctor whined at Laura. She shrugged noncommittally in response.

“Check the floor. I’m detecting a breach at floor level. There could be a way out. See you later!” ‘Carmen’ declared. The line went dead and despite the Doctor’s fiddlings and fussings, it stayed that way.

“I already found it. It leads into the asylum,” Laura explained.

“Oh, joy,” Amy droned.

“This must lead to where Rory is,” the Doctor said.

“Good,” she stated.

“Speaking of Rory… Is there anything you want to tell me?”

“Are we going to do this now?”

“Well, what happened?”

Amy stood up in frustration and paced around a few times. She glanced at Laura, hoping for the other woman to do something that could distract her from the conversation but she was standing at the door monitor with a frightening stillness watching the puppets bang on the other side of the door.

“Oh, stuff! You know. We split up. What can you do?” she rambled out in annoyance.

“What can I do?” the Doctor asked so quietly and so sincerely.

“Nothing,” she told him honestly. She crouched back down in front of him and gently put her hand on his shoulder. “It’s not one of those things you can fix like you fix your bow tie. And don’t give me those big, wet eyes, raggedy man. It’s life. Just life. That thing that goes on when you’re not there.”

The Doctor forced himself to look away from Amy’s face. “The ladder appears intact,” he noted.

“Okay, so someone else got out this way, then,” she said.

“Yeah, let’s go and find them,” he said.

The pounding on the door got worse and Laura looked back at them, her face absolutely still. “We have a problem,” she said.

“What’s that?” Amy asked, pointing at the monitor. Laura raised her wrist to show her bracelet.

“Where did they get it?” the Doctor asked.

“From Amy when they pulled her to the ground,” she replied.

“Oh, Amy…” the Doctor sighed.

“Doctor, what’s going to happen to me, seriously? Tell me. What?” Amy demanded, unable to stop rubbing her wrist.

“Later. Get down the ladder,” Laura instructed.

“No. Now. I deserve to know because it’s happening to me, not you,” Amy argued.

“The air all around is full of micro-machines, robots the size of molecules. Nanogenes. Now that you’re unprotected, you’re being rewritten,” he explained. “Physical changes come later."

“What comes first? How does it start?” Amy demanded.

“With your mind. Your feelings, your memories," he said sadly.

“Power to the door is failing. They are coming through soon,” Laura pointed out.

“Down the ladder. You two, Laura,” the Doctor said.

“No, I will follow once I can be assured they are not,” she stated.

“I’m starting to like this plan,” Amy said.

“You follow the moment you can, understood?” the Doctor instructed fiercely, showing a level of protectiveness that assured Laura that they had intense history that she hadn’t lived yet. He simply cared a tremendous amount. Like Sue did. Sue cared for her that much.

“Go,” she said.

The Doctor and Amy started down the later, leaving Laura alone with only a door between her and reanimated dead. Not a minute later she heard Amy demand the Doctor tell her what was going to happen to her. Laura felt an uncomfortable tightness in her chest as she realized that the conversion had already started. This was precisely why she instinctively knew it was a bad idea to get emotionally attached.

“So, what do I call you?” “Carmen’ asked idly.

“Whatever you like,” Laura replied. She popped her claws again and leaned against the wall beside the door, just out of view.

“You look a Sarah to me.”

“How soon until the power fails?”

“You’re quite the conversationalist… It looks like you have a minute until they’re through. 48 seconds.”

“My mother’s name was Sarah.”

“Oh? A point to me and my perception skills. 32 seconds.”

“You might want to look away from what is coming.”

“And why is that? 24 seconds.”

“Because it will not be pretty.”

“You’re about to carve up Dalek puppets. 14 seconds.”

“Suit yourself.”

“I usually do. 4 seconds.”

The emergency lighting went out as the deadlock seal released. The puppets managed to force the door open just wide enough for one to squeeze through. Laura spun and her foot sheared the head clean off and left a deep scar in the door. The body crumpled and impeded the progress of the others. Within a few seconds the doors were forced open the rest of the way and the puppets were attacking her.

It took her a minute and a half to render all the puppets completely nonfunctional, last falling to a combo slash from her foot blade to sever the head and then a heel stomp to obliterate it. All of this done effortlessly. She walked back over to the hatch and saw that Amy and the Doctor were off the ladder and into the tunnels.

“I know you said that it wouldn’t be pretty, so is it wrong that I was a little turned on by that?” ‘Carmen’ asked.

“People find sexual arousal from a wide variety of things. I stopped letting that influence my opinion a long time ago,” Laura responded dispassionately.

“Oh, what made you reach that epiphany?”

“When a john committed suicide in front of me because he believed I understood his pain.”

“You were a call girl?”

“I have been many things. That one is perhaps the least damaging to my soul.”

“Were you good?”

“Are you looking to hire my services?”

“Sarah, I’ve been down here a year by myself. I’m not above begging.”

“Tell me where my friends are and I’ll consider it.”

“Seriously?”

“I’m not above begging, either.”

“I guided Nina to a safe place a few minutes ago. The Chin and the Scot are in the tunnel below you.”

“Nina?”

“It’s what I call him. He only corrected me the first time.”

“You are referring to Rory, though.”

“Yes. But I call him Nina.”

“Thank you ‘Carmen’.”

Laura cut the metal cables of the ladder with her claws, letting it fall down the hole.

“Don’t you need that to get to them?” ‘Carmen’ asked.

“No. Ignore any cracking or shattering sounds you hear though,” Laura replied.

“Oi, don’t go and injure yourself before our rendezvous,” she stated. Laura almost laughed.

“I would not worry about that. Just… ignore what you are about to hear,” Laura repeated. She vaulted over the edge and dug the claws on one of her hands into the walls of the shaft. It wasn’t smooth at all, instead it was full of ledges demarcating the depth on the way down. It made for a very rough and uneasy descent. Three-quarters of the way through she felt her radius and then her ulna snap, forcing her to change arms to slow her momentum. The shaft ended and she fell the remaining thirty feet to the bottom. The impact broke both her feet, ankles, and tibias.

“I know you said don’t listen, but oh my god. What the hell were you thinking?” ‘Carmen’ demanded.

Laura ignored her for a moment and forcibly straightened out her wrist and forearm so her healing factor could heal them properly. Next came each foot and leg. She didn’t grimace or curse even once.

“Where are they?” Laura asked.

A very large explosion shook the passage and made her adjust her footing. In her world, that served as a legitimate answer to her question.

“There is a teleportation hub down the hall, through the room with the blown up Daleks, and down the next passage. Your friends are there.” ‘Carmen’ told her, though the usual wit and charm in her voice was gone. She sounded almost afraid.

Laura jogged into the room ‘Carmen’ mentioned and spotted the dozen or so charred Dalek shells. She wasn’t surprised in the least. Even someone with a stunted sense of smell would have noticed the burnt Dalek aroma. She passed through quickly and found the teleportation hub.

“Will sleeping help her? Will it slow down the process?” Rory frantically asked the Doctor. Amy was laying down the teleport, still as the grave. Laura had to focus to pick up her breathing and heartbeat. She wasn’t doing well.

“When do we put her out of her misery?” Laura asked. Rory’s head shot up and glared at her.

“How about never?” he spat out.

“It is a legitimate question. Would she even want to continue existing like that puppet back on the ship? That woman did not even care that she once had a daughter and that the Daleks most likely murdered her,” she pointed out.

“She would be ordered to kill us, Rory,” the Doctor said softly.

“She wouldn’t,” he said defiantly.

“She would. When you become a tool, especially a tool for killing, you do not have a choice. It is as if your brain is shut off while you completely your task and then you wake up with blood all over you,” she explained.

“Laura knows what she’s talking about,” the Doctor said.

“It isn’t going to get that far,” he stated, daring Laura to say anything else. Her eyes fell down to the sleeping redhead and she sadly brushed away some errant strands from her pale face. If only Rory knew the truth about what she was saying, but perhaps it was for the best he didn’t understand. She didn’t want him or Amy sullied with the details of her life.

“You better hope so, because pretty soon she’s going to try and kill you. You should listen to Sarah,” ‘Carmen’ said. The Doctor and Rory exchanged a look.

“She means me,” Laura replied.

Amy groaned and Laura took one of her hands while Rory grabbed the other. Amy was too busy looking at Rory and the two men were too busy looking at Amy. Laura took the distraction and slipped her bracelet off her wrist and onto Amy’s.

“Amy. You still with us?” the Doctor whispered, drawing her attention to him. Laura stood up and moved to the edge of the room and let the bizarre family have their moment. She already felt far too out of place. It was odd, but she was much more comfortable talking to the flirty voice on the PA system than dealing with the people in front of her.

“Amy, it’s me. Do you remember me?” Rory asked worriedly. Amy’s hand flew out and slapped him hard across the cheek. “She remembers me.”

“Same old Amy,” the Doctor said with a grin.

“Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek?” ‘Carmen’ asked. It was clear she was speaking to Laura because she was using only the speaker next to Laura’s head but her words applied to everyone.

“I can guess,” Laura replied.

“Subtract love, add anger. Doesn’t she seem a bit too angry to you?” she asked.

“Well, somebody’s never been to Scotland,” Amy grouched.

“How about you though, Oswin? How come you’re okay? Why hasn’t the nanocloud converted you?” the Doctor asked.

“I mentioned the genius thing, yeah? Shielded in here,” ‘Carmen’ replied.

“Hmm. Clever for you. Now, this place. The Daleks said it was fully automated. But look at it, it’s a wreck,” he pointed out.

“Well, I’ve had nearly a year to mess with them. And… not a lot else to do,” she admitted.

“A junior entertainment manager hiding out in a wrecked ship, hacking the security systems of the most advanced warrior race the universe has ever seen. But you know what really gets me about you, Oswin? The soufflés,” he declared.

“The soufflés?” Amy asked quietly. Laura and Rory shrugged. She wasn’t even sure what soufflés were.

“Where do you get milk for the soufflés? Seriously, is no one else wondering about that?” he asked.

“No! Frankly, no. Twice,” Rory admitted.

“So, Doctor. I’ve been looking you up. You’re all over the database. Sarah there has a decently thick file for herself too. Amy, you’re lagging behind. Sorry, Nina…”

“I’m sorry, what?” Rory demanded.

“Why do I have a file?” Laura asked confusedly.

“Doctor, why do the Daleks call you the Predator?” she asked.

“I’m not a predator. I’m just a man with a plan,” he replied with a self-satisfied smirk.

“You’ve got a plan?” she asked.

“We’re all ears!” Rory exclaimed sourly.

“There’s a nose joke going if someone wants to pick that one off,” Amy quipped. Laura playfully extended one of the claws on her hand, making Rory flinch and Amy laugh loudly.

“In no particular order, we need to neutralize all the Daleks in the asylum, rescue Oswin from the wreckage, escape from this planet, and fix Amy’s and Rory’s marriage,” the Doctor listed off.

“Okay, I’m counting three lost causes, anyone else?” Amy chimed in. Rory rolled his eyes in annoyance and moved away from his estranged wife.

“Oswin, there’s a Dalek ship in orbit,” the Doctor said, starting to move around the room with a frenetic enthusiasm.

“Yeah, got it on the sensors.”

“The asylum has a force field. The Daleks upstairs are waiting for me to turn it off. As soon as I do, they’ll burn this whole world and us with it. So, Oswin, my question is this, how fast can you drop the force field?”

Everyone looked at him in shock. Amy pushed herself up to her elbows and glowered at him. “What?” she demanded.

“Pretty fast…” ‘Carmen’ replied. “But why would I?”

“Because this is a teleport, am I right, Oswin?”

“Yeah! Internal use only.”

The Doctor danced around happily, snapping his fingers repeatedly. Amy scooted frantically off the teleport.

“I can boost the power, you know, once the force field is down. And we can use this to beam us right off the planet.”

“But you said when the force field is down, the Daleks will blow us up!” Rory exclaimed.

“We’ll have to be quick, yes,” the Doctor replied.

“Fine, we’ll be quick, but where do we beam to?” Amy demanded.

“The only place within range. The Dalek ship,” he replied.

“Where they’d exterminate us on the spot,” she argued.

“Not if we teleported someplace where we can make a fast escape,” Laura added.

“Exactly.”

“Oh, so this is the kind of escape plan where you survive about four seconds longer?” Rory asked.

“What’s wrong with four seconds? You can do loads in four seconds,” he replied.

“I could probably give you eight,” Laura pointed out.

“That won’t be necessary. That will never be necessary with me. Never again!" the Doctor said almost ferociously. She didn't outwardly react at all, but Laura could only imagine what event he was remembering and what she might have done and against who. "Oswin! How fast can you drop the force field?”

“I can do it from here. As soon as you and Sarah come and get me,” she replied. The Doctor stood up in confusion, locking eyes with the nearest camera. There was something in her tone that unnerved them. Fear. Anxiety. Distrust.

“No, just drop the force field and come to us,” he insisted.

“There’s enough power in that teleport for one go. Why would you wait for me?”

“…Why wouldn’t I?”

“No idea, never met you. Sending you a map so you can come get me.”

The doctor ran to the nearest monitor, clearly deciding to go along with the new plan. Rory, however, wasn’t sold and very angry. “This place is crawling with Daleks!” he stated.

“Yeah! Kind of why I’m anxious to leave. Come up and see me sometime!” she retorted but the flirtatious edge in her voice seemed weak and forced.

The map appeared on the screen in front of the Doctor and Laura. They were very close, indeed. But the problem was that ‘Carmen’ didn’t flag her position in any kind of wreckage or anything. She flagged her position in the middle of a room at the end of the ward. The psychiatric ward to be exact. The implications unnerved them to say the least.


	4. The Problem with Expectations

Tensions were high at this new revelation, but Rory seemed to have a clearer head because 'Carmen' wasn't asking for him to rescue her. He just had to wait with Amy. Rory stepped over the teleport and ran over to them. “So… are we going to get her?” he asked.

“Yes,” Laura replied.

“I don’t think that we have a choice,” the Doctor admitted. He moved away from them to work on the teleport.

“What are you thinking?” Amy asked Laura.

“Too many things,” she replied.

“That’s helpful.”

“What would you like me to say?”

“How ‘bout your opinion on walking into Dalek central to rescue someone you’ve never met?”

Laura sat down beside Amy and popped her claws out of boredom. She looked at her reflection in them. “I am not worried about the Daleks between us and ‘Carmen’.”

“So, what are you worried about?”

“I do not care for his plan. There are too many unknowns and risks teleporting to the Dalek ship.”

“You just gotta be brave.”

“I am not afraid for myself. I am afraid for you and Rory.”

“You don’t even know us.”

“Is that necessary? This team is clearly defined by two things: the Doctor is the brains and I am the brawn. That means yours and Rory’s safety is paramount.”

“So’s yours.”

“Perhaps.”

“No, you listen to me. Your life and safety is just as important as mine, Rory’s, or the Doctor’s. There is no hierarchy or standing orders or anything like that, do you follow?”

Laura didn’t respond. Amy was starting to make her uncomfortable again just like when they first met.  Love. She radiated love and it made Laura uneasy. It was like getting acclimated to Sue all over again. Luckily the Doctor interrupted the moment with his fast paced rambling. He threw some more cables down and gave a little happy dance.

“Okay, as soon as the force field is down, the Daleks will attack. If it gets too explodey-wodey in here, you go without me, okay?” the Doctor instructed.

“And leave you to die?” Rory asked incredulously.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. You’re the one beaming up to a Dalek ship to get exterminated,” he said with a manic grin.

“Fair point. Love this plan. What about Amy?” Rory asked.

“Keep her remembering, keep her focused. That’ll hold back the conversion,” he called out from under the teleport.

“What do I do?” Amy demanded.

“You heard what she said. They’re subtracting love. Don’t let them,” he instructed. She looked like she was going to argue so the Doctor took her face in his hands. “Don’t let them.”

“We should hurry,” Laura suggested.

“Yes. Oswin is waiting,” he replied. The two of them stepped through the door and sealed it behind them. The Doctor grabbed her wrist and held it up between them, pointing out the obvious lack of bracelet.

“When did you do this?” he demanded.

“When you and Rory were fussing over her. Your peripheral vision was lacking,” she replied.

“How could you be sure you would be unaffected?”

“You stated that I wouldn't.”

“Why did you trust me?”

“Why would you lie?”

The Doctor let her wrist drop and looked at her sadly. “Rule #1, Laura Kinney, the Doctor lies,” he said solemnly.

“Were you lying? Am I going to be turned into a puppet and kill all of you?” she asked.

“No, your healing factor is preventing any damage, but I suspect your mind is a little foggy from the battle you’re waging against the nanocloud,” he explained.

“It is not affecting my judgment or abilities.”

“I wouldn’t think it would.”

“Because you’ve known me for so long.”

“For ages… wait…”

“It was not hard to figure out. You slipped up earlier and then ‘Carmen’ said that the Daleks have an extensive file on me. I have never heard of you or the Daleks until a few hours ago. Amy is a time traveler by her own admission and so are you. Therefore, we are out of temporal sync.”

“And you are… fine with that?”

“I am friends with the Future Foundation. Time travel is a normal conversation topic. I watched a 7 year old girl discuss using a nuclear bomb to time travel,” she said, her voice more wistful than she intended. She really was starting to miss Valeria and that scared her. She had a family now. She had something to lose.

“Laura, I promise that I will get you home. You will see little Val again,” he told her.

Laura fell silent, clearly uncomfortable with the personal nature the conversation took on. She brushed by him and headed deeper into the asylum. The sounds and screeches of insane Dalek made the corridors cramped and unnerving. But it was still more comforting than dealing with people. At least she knew where she stood with the Dalek. Preferably out of the line of fire and close enough to attack. Behind it and crouching.

“This door is making me nervous, Doctor,” she stated.

“Why are you nervous?” he asked analytically, peering at her in a way like he was trying to see in her skull or at least her soul.

“I smell the familiar aroma of Dalek, but a lot of chemicals that suggests sedation. Something unpleasant is behind here, whether it is ‘Carmen’ or something worse,” she said.

“One thing I learned from you, Laura, is to always trust your nose. That’s why we’re going in,” he replied.

“How is that trusting my nose?” she asked him sternly.

“Because now we’re going in cautiously,” he replied.

The Doctor tapped the controls on the side of the door and it hissed open. Laura immediately popped her claws and stepped in ahead of him. As she walked down the aisle and took in the insane Daleks around her. Her black hair started blowing behind her into a curtain of stars and nebulae while her claws started to glow electric blue.

“Captain Universe, a pleasure to see you again,” the Doctor whispered cordially.

“I do not transform completely. The Uni-power feels that my own mind is better suited to the situations I find myself in rather than the Captain Universe persona. Allows there to effectively be two Captain Universes at once,” Laura explained quickly.

“I hadn’t realized the schism happened before we even met,” he replied.

“It happened in a demon dimension six months ago,” she said.

“A light in the darkness. That is the Laura Kinney I know,” he said warmly.

“Where are we?” she asked bluntly.

The intercom crackled to life again. “Less than twenty feet away,” ‘Carmen’ said quietly.

“Bad news?” Laura asked.

“Sarah, really? Does there have to be bad news?” she asked.

“You read my file. You tell me,” Laura replied.

“You’re in intensive care,” she said.

“What’s so special about this lot, then?” the Doctor asked.

The Daleks in there were unarmed and rundown. Most of them were greatly corroded as well. Laura could smell she sheer amount of chemicals pumped into them. It reminded her of all the failed experiments in the Weapons X program that they kept around for spare parts. She couldn’t help the feelings that bubbled up. She actually felt sympathy for the Daleks locked away here. They were so crazy that this was their fate. She figured this was the effect the nanocloud was having on her mind.

“Survivors of particular wars. Spiridon, Kembel, Aridius, Vulcan, Exxilon, Station V, Earth. Ringing any bells?” she asked.

“All of them,” the Doctor replied gravely. He walked right up to one of the disarmed Daleks. Laura used the light of her claws to examine another.

“Yeah, how?” she asked.

“These are the Daleks who survived me. And Laura considering the last two you listed,” he explained.

“I’m going to be responsible for some of this?” Laura asked angrily.

“Laura, when you reach that point in your time line. You will understand. You many have never even encountered any of these personally in fact I would bet on it that you haven’t. This is… an unforeseen side effect,” he explained.

“Consequence! Whatever I did or will do has turned some living creatures into useless husks. Devoid of purpose or meaning. Just left down here,” Laura argued fiercely.

“I don’t know what memory you are comparing them to but these are not innocent creatures. They are monsters. Think about the puppets. Remember the puppets. Oh! The puppets! The nanocloud! Laura! You need to expel the nanogenes that are in your system!” he exclaimed.

Laura shut her eyes tight and a small burst of light came off of her, rattling all the Daleks. She opened her eyes and visibly calmed herself.

“Sarah, I think you did something to the inmates,” ‘Carmen’ stated.

“DOC…TOR!” the Daleks started chanting. He moved out of the center of the room quickly but Laura dropped into a battle stance. The chant was a terrifying, discordant pulse in the room, gaining strength and momentum.

“That’s weird. Those ones don’t usually wake up for anything,” ‘Carmen’ pointed out.

“Yeah, well, special visitor,” the Doctor replied. One of the Daleks wheeled towards her and she pushed off the ground, letting herself use the Uni-Power to float up high so it could pass under it. She landed behind it and next to the Doctor.

“You can fly?” ‘Carmen’ asked.

“Temporarily,” Laura replied simply.

“Okay! Door! Won’t open. Oswin?! Open her up!” he pleaded.

“Alright. Not sure if there’s a release code. Just gimme a… second…” she replied.

“I can cut through it but I need at least five seconds,” Laura told him.

“We don’t have five seconds,” he reminded her.

“Anything happening out there?” she called out.

“No!” they both responded.

“Hang on, I’m trying to think!” she called out again.

The Daleks were closing in, still chanting his name. None of them had gun stalks but they were still trying to activate them. Trying to kill them. She could do it. I wouldn’t take much more than a few seconds but she could destroy all of them. She just needed his approval. His permission. She didn’t understand why, but it was very apparent that without it, he would greatly disapprove and she didn’t want that. She didn’t know why.

“Oswin! Get this door open! Oswin, open this door!” he yelled at her.

“I can’t!” she yelled back.

“I can redirect the energy they’re attempting to put out. It’ll create blowback and kill every single one,” Laura informed him.

“I will never ask you to kill for me, Laura Kinney, do you understand me?” he asked her angrily.

“You don’t need to ask. I do what needs to be done. I figured you’d know that by now,” she told him.

“What?!” he demanded.

“Sarah! Send the energy straight into the power cables running along the ceiling! I have something planned but I need a lot of power!” ‘Carmen’ demanded.

Laura reached out with her uni-power and pulled all the energy straight out of the advancing Daleks and shot it into the ceiling. It ran into the wall along the cabling. A few seconds later the Daleks gave up and went back to their cells.

“Oh… that is cool. Tell me I’m cool chin boy,” she said with a girlish giggle.

“What did you do?” he asked.

“I just earned my little victory rendezvous with Sarah later,” she said smugly. Even Laura couldn’t help but smile. That girl was not going to forget the call girl thing.

“Depends on what you just did,” Laura replied.

“Hang on. I think I found the door thingy,” she said quickly.

“No, tell me what you did,” the Doctor demanded fearfully.

“The Daleks, they have a hive mind. Well, they don’t, but they have a sort of telepathic web,” she explained.

“The path web, yes,” he agreed.

“I hacked into it, did a master delete on all the information connected with the Doctor and his companions. ‘Specially you, Sarah. That’s a lot of hacking and slashing to get me worked up,” she said proudly.

“But you made them forget me,” he said in confusion.

“Good, huh?” she asked, a clear smile in her voice.

“Improbably,” Laura replied.

“And here comes the door…” she said.

The door behind both of them hissed open slowly. Laura took a deep breath and felt what was left of her heart break. She knew when she first entered intensive care that all she smelt was Dalek. That was all. No human whatsoever. She told the Doctor as much but he hadn’t realized her implication. All she smelt was Dalek. Part of her, the part she hated for its weakness, had held out hope that she was wrong. But as the Doctor said, always trust her nose.

“I’ve tried hacking into the path web, even I couldn’t do it,” he said, completely shocked.

“Doctor, I need to… to clear a path for you to the teleporter,” Laura said uneasily. She hated this feeling in her gut. What they would find on the other side of that door was a Dalek. Just a Dalek. ‘Carmen’ was a Dalek. An insane Dalek. She was sure of it. Her nose never lied to her.

“Come and meet the girl who can,” ‘Carmen’ said.

“Laura? What’s wrong?” he asked quickly.

“I am sorry, Doctor. But I cannot bear to be here for this,” She replied. Laura pulled away from him and ran down the hallway and triggered the release for the intensive care unit door.

“Oswin… we have a problem,” the Doctor said gravely. Laura shut her eyes tightly, trying to will her ears to turn off. Every time she let someone in, she got hurt. She had come to care for ‘Carmen’. Something rare for her, but she had. It wasn’t even going to just be fulfilling a contract for their rendezvous. She had truly believed she’d have fun with a… friend. Pleasure, not business. But that was ripped away from her. Ripped out like knife in the gut that her healing factor couldn’t fix. Her heart was clenching and her eyes were burning. This poor girl, whoever she was, probably didn’t know she had been turned into a Dalek. A truth so horrible she blocked it out. That’s why she’s in the furthest locked room of the intensive care ward. The most insane Dalek because she still thought she was human.

“No… we don’t…” ‘Carmen’ replied in the raspy mechanical voice the Dalek’s produced. She had someone managed to make the asylum’s speakers play her original voice but that shell would forever sound like what she became.

The door came up and Laura started sprinting, back through the corridors and into that bigger room from before. More Daleks congregated there to investigate the blast from before. There were at least fourteen there now just spinning around looking for something to kill.

Laura felt something familiar boiling up in her and it was coming without the trigger scent. Blood rage started to fill her eyes and tint her vision. There was nothing in the world that she hated more at that moment than Daleks. They took someone as special and wonderful as ‘Carmen’ and destroyed her. In more than a sense what happened to ‘Carmen’ was what happened to her growing up. Subtract love… add hate.

Her head was growing fuzzier by the second. She realized the nanocloud’s effect was increasing rapidly because of her rage but she couldn’t shake it. She couldn’t activate the uni-power to break it, either. She was going red and nothing could stop it. Her claws slid out and she lunged at the first Dalek. They ripped the Dalekanium apart and splattered the mutate inside. The force sent the shell crashing into the next one. One by one the Daleks fell and each of their shots either missed her agile body or did very little to slow her down.

“Laura! Wake up! Wake up now!” a voice called to her. A hand grabbed her by the bicep and pulled her along but she felt no need to attack him. He just kept calling out to her and she slowly came back around. First was the exploding room around her. The paint, the architecture, that kind of thing. Then were all the Dalek corpses and shells. Next, the yellow, mucus-y blood all over her hands. Then, the Doctor pulling her along. Last was ‘Carmen’.

“I’m back. I’m back…” Laura said with the nearest thing to a sob she could allow herself to make. The Doctor’s hand shifted into hers and they started running together back to the transport room where Amy and Rory were kissing very passionately.

“Right! Let’s go! Let’s go!” the Doctor yelled at them. Laura pulled the trigger out of Rory’s hand and struck it.  They landed in a heap on the floor of another alien room. The way the Doctor jumped up and started moving around it suggested it was his and by the looks of the controls, it was probably a ship. Amy and Rory stayed on the floor making out.

Laura got to her feet and headed for what appeared to be a blue wooden door but the Doctor ran over and pulled her back. He gestured to a chair at the console and she dropped in it. He grabbed a transceiver of some kind.

“You know, you guys should really have seen this coming. The thing about me and teleport, I’ve got a really good aim. Pinpoint accurate, in fact. Or, to put it another way…” The Doctor trailed off. He ran to the blue wood doors and leaned out. Laura had stopped caring. She figured out that the smell of Daleks was about to flood in and she hurried into what appeared to be a hallway. The doors closed behind her and ventilation kicked in. There was something in the smell of this hallway that smelt incredibly familiar to her but that was impossible. She had never been here before. Why was she smelling her own scent? And Val's?

Lights appeared on the floor and she followed them to a simple wooden door. Nothing special except it had an X sloppily carved into it. It matched the marks her claws left. She extended one and carefully ran it through the groove. It was definitely her claw mark.

“I see she led you to your room,” Amy said. Laura hadn’t realized the redhead had decoupled with her husband.

“She?” she asked.

“The TARDIS. The ship we’re on. It’s bigger on the inside,” Amy replied.

“And this is my room?” she asked.

“It is. You’ve been running with the Doctor for a lot longer than me and Rory. Well, you did, or, well, you will be, will have… Time Travel tense are hard. It’s a bit wibbly wobbly timey wimey,” Amy said.

“You clearly do not know me,” she pointed out.

“Rory, my daughter River, and I have been his only companions for this regeneration. See, he changes his body and face every so often. Sustain lethal damage, turn into someone new. Judging by this door the old girl has pulled out of storage for you, I’d say you must be from a previous regeneration.”

“Should I go in?”

“No. Absolutely not. Your future is in there. Whatever you have put in there must hold meaning to you. But you haven’t done it yet, so it’s full of spoilers.”

“I just want to go home now. To my…”

“Family? Yeah, I know that look. I want to see my parents and in-laws now, too. Luckily for you, we’re dropping you off first.”

Laura followed Amy back to the control room where the Doctor was standing at the blue wooden doors again. He pushed them open and the interior of the Baxter Building was visible. She brushed past him and breathed a sigh of relief. When she turned back to say something, anything, to the Doctor, an old 1960’s blue phone booth vanished into thin air.

“Laura!” Valeria exclaimed. She jumped off the second floor railing and Laura immediately dove forward and caught her.

“Val! How many times does your father have to tell you not to do that, even if I will catch you?” Laura asked her sternly. Valeria could see the smile in her eyes, though.

“Once more, as always,” she replied haughtily. Laura hugged the little girl tightly.

“I’m so glad to see you,” Laura admitted shakily.

“What happened? Spidey said you were abducted by something!” she exclaimed.

“I don’t know how to tell you. I don’t think you’ll understand,” Laura replied.

“Please, I’m the smartest ever. I’ll understand,” she said.

Laura sighed and carried the child prodigy to the couch. “Fine, I’ll tell you, but I’ll only say it once. I was abducted by evil aliens…” Laura started off with Valeria hanging onto every word. Smartest girl on the planet at 7 years old or not, she still loved a good story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is the end of Asylum. As I said at the beginning, I may do more on this idea and it will be posted as a separate story in the series. Please review! I love reviews. Can't get enough of them! And, I'll even respond!

**Author's Note:**

> Please review! I know this isn't much, but it is only the prologue.


End file.
